"Bad things do happen; how I respond to them defines my character and the quality of my life. I can choose to sit in perpetual sadness, immobilized by the gravity of my loss, or I can choose to rise from the pain and treasure the most precious gift I have – life itself" Walter Anderson

Choose your friends wisely.

Okay, so it seems simple and straight forward but I want to explain why. You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. Surprise! I know this is true because I have absolutely lived it.

You should have seen me at 18, absolutely destructive. I was like the Tasmanian Devil, I was taking everything out within my sight. I was a nightmare! I was drinking every weekend, fighting with people, my relationships were all disasters.

Shall I tell you why I was such a mess? I was stuck in a life that I thought I couldn’t get out of. I was set on the friends and boyfriend I had at the time. I look bad now and laugh (thank god) but I can also look back and see why my life was the way it was.

First off, all my friends wanted to do was drink and party every weekend. There was a point in time where we were going out Wednesday to Sunday, gross. Anyway, my boyfriend at the time was as destructive as I was. He also drank every weekend along with the occasional drug use. One of my closest friends was an absolute emotional disaster, she caused problems everywhere we went, all I had was problems with her but for some reason I still managed to give her all of me as a friend. Another best friend who was hooked on every party drug I can think of and all she wanted to do was rave.

It took me a while to notice but I realized one day that I am the creator of my own destiny. I got to choose if I wanted to keep my shitty friends, shitty boyfriend, shitty job, etc. Once I decided that, my entire life took a turn and I built new relationships, got a great job, became the better version of me. Now this isn’t to say that I’m perfect because I absolutely am not, I struggle with things daily but I know that I’m in a much better place than I used to be.

My message is for anyone out there who finds they are in a rut, you can get yourself out of it! It doesn’t matter what’s happening, it’s your choice to make the change. I know it can be scary but I promise its worth it! It’s okay to be selfish every now and then, when you realize you have someone in your life who always brings you down, sometime’s you just need to take scissors to that rope, it may hurt for a while but it’s likely the best decision for yourself and your future.